Those who believe in freedom: Yara Sallam

Yara Sallam is starting the second year of her sentence in Qanater Women's prison outside Cairo. She says, "I do not feel any regret or self-defeat, the prison is not inside me."

Yara SallamYara Sallam is starting her second year of detention in an Egyptian prison. No mother ever wants to see her child in prison, but Rawia Sadek is not
letting her daughter's incarceration bring her down.

For over a year now, Sadek has tried not to let the multiple security checks inside the jail, the uncomfortable
waiting-time in the visiting room, or the fact that her daughter is even being
called an inmate ruin the precious hour-long visits she has with her
daughter. Sadek has also been writing about Yara and all unjustly detained
prisoners in Egypt via social media and posting photos of her daughter along
with the hashtag #FreeYara.

Yara is a 29-year-old women’s human rights defender from Egypt.
Before she was detained, she was a transitional justice researcher with
the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). On June 21, 2014, twenty-three young
activists, among them Yara and six other young
women, were arrested for protesting against a draconian anti-protest law.

The law was introduced in 2013 to prevent anyone from
protesting without permission from the government. Ironically, Egyptian President
Abel Al Fattah el Sisi’s current government wouldn’t be in power if brave and
defiant young Egyptians hadn’t taken to the streets in protest to oust then
President Hosni Mubarak from power in 2011.

Yara at a Khaled Said protestYara, as it turns out, wasn’t actually taking part in
the unsanctioned protest when she was arrested on June 21. In fact, she was with her cousin,
buying a water bottle inside a shop when they were arrested. Authorities released her cousin, but after police
discovered that Yara worked with EIPR, she was referred to the prosecutor.

Yara and the 22 others activists who were arrested on
that day have now completed over a year of their two year sentences. The Egyptian
Appeal Court's judgment handed down in December 2014 stipulates that their sentences will also be followed by two years of police surveillance.

“Yara is an honest person, and
she was raised to do the right thing and everything she does, she does with
passion. She cares not only about herself but is always thinking about others
in everything she does.” That’s how Sadek describes her daughter. Being a lawyer isn’t just a career Yara
chose – it’s a calling. Sadek
remembers: “I used to tell Yara ‘you’re a lawyer’ but she would reply ‘No mum,
I’m a rights defender.’ Even when she was just 14 years old, she was involved
in an organization that defends children’s rights.”

Yara and 5 of the young women detainees who were arrested on June 21
2014 share a cell inside Qanater Women’s prison, 19-kilometers North of Cairo.
When Sadek visited with Yara on June 9, Yara was feeling good that day. “Of course, there are
times when she’s not happy, and not feeling good about her situation. But this
time, she was happy and laughing,” she says.

At first, Sadek was afraid for Yara. She knows cases of abuse are rampant at the hands
of state security forces and in Egyptian prisons. She feared that they would
treat her badly or sexually abuse her in prison but Yara has confirmed
that this has not happened.

Losing one’s freedom without justifiable cause is not easy, but
Yara is strong. In a letter from prison she wrote: "I do not feel any regret or
self-defeat, the prison is not inside me.”

Much like Mahienour El Masry, a well-known political activist who is
currently detained in Alexandria, Yara is trying to make her time in jail
meaningful. When a group of human rights defenders
visited Qanater prison, she and Sanaa Seif (another
well-known young activist who campaigned against military trials for civilians
in Egypt) insisted on bringing attention to the case of a young woman who has
been unjustly placed in solitary confinement. They also complained
about the overcrowding in the prison.

When a prison warden asked Yara if they were treating her well, she
told him that she was treated fine, but that others were not. “That says
everything about Yara and about how she cannot stand idle in the face of
injustice,” says Sadek, “I can go on and on about how wonderful my
daughter is.”

Radwa
Medhat has worked as a colleague with Yara in the EIPR team and they are close friends. Medhat says that she is the most caring,
thoughtful, funny, compassionate friend that anyone can have. “Yara's time
in prison is by far my worst nightmare and it has been going on for over a
year now. It means the disappearance of
a very close friend and a colleague and it's the ongoing feeling of guilt
accompanying anything I do or enjoy.
It's also the ongoing question of why her not me. To me nothing
makes sense without her.”

Prison hasn’t changed Yara

“We don’t like prisons but we
are not afraid them.” That’s a quote from Mahiehour El-Masry that Sadek holds dear to her
heart. That quote
keeps her grounded. She says that a year in
prison has not changed her daughter because Yara knows she did nothing wrong.
She adds: “They are wrong for imprisoning her. They are the ones who don’t
respect the law. The charges against her are fabricated.”

A friend of Yara’s, who was recently released from prison, jokingly
told Sadek: “Prison is nice. Tell Yara she should tell the guards that prison
is nice.” So, on one of her visits with Yara, Sadek gave her the message. Yara thought about it for a second and
replied: “If I was outside of these prison walls, with everything that’s
happening in the country, I would have felt guilty and helpless so, in that respect, maybe
it’s ok that I’m in prison.”

Yara and the other young women serving the same sentence have
remained cellmates, but many of the young women - who were associated with
the Muslim Brotherhood for example - are treated differently. They are separated and
placed in cells with other offenders.

Inside and outside Egypt’s prison walls, injustice persists. More
stories of young Egyptians being arrested, disappearing and being killed keep surfacing. It’s almost hard to
keep track of them all. Sadek says " they are not just numbers or random names. They
all have faces, stories and feelings that we should know about. Yara says she
knows people keep her story in the media but she wants all detainee stories to
be just as talked about, if not more. Yara wants all those unjustly detained
freed.”

Egyptian activists held two days of
international solidarity actions with Egyptian political prisoners on June
20-21. They want to see an end to repression and
worldwide-support for the various campaigns to free political prisoners in
Egypt.
Putting pressure on the Egyptian government to immediately end the repression of protests, free political prisoners, stop the
disappearances, conduct fair trials for all and put an end to abuse, torture and
executions has never been more important than now.

Sadek doesn’t want her daughter or any of her cellmates to spend
another year behind bars. She hopes for an early release without getting her
hopes too high. She has to in order to keep going. As Yara and others continue to serve unfair and unjustified sentences, Sadek says her daughter
is grateful for all the people who have continued to stand by her, support her,
talk about her and pray for her.

Those who believe in freedom in Egypt have never rested. The fight
continues.

About the author

Nelly Bassily is a Programme Associate with Young Feminist Activism. She has a degree in journalism from Concordia University, Montreal. She works on a feminist community radio show called The Third Wave, profiling feminist news, initiatives and events from different corners of the globe, with a focus on gender-based violence, rape culture and reproductive justice.

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